The Nurses song By William Blake

Poem

When the voices of children are heard on the green,

And laughing is heard on the hill,

My heart is at rest within my breast,

And everything else is still

Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,

And the dews of night arise;

Come, come, leave off play, and let us away

Till the morning appears in the skies.

No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,

And we cannot go to sleep;

Besides, in the sky, the little birds fly,

And the hills are all covered with sheep.’

Well, well, go and play till the light fades away,

And then go home to bed

The little ones leaped and shouted and laughed,

And all the hills echoed.’

About Poet:

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. A boldly imaginative rebel in both his
thought and his art, he combined poetic and pictorial genius to explore important issues in politics,
religion, and psychology. He was born on 28 November, 1757 and died on 12 August, 1827. He
opened a print shop with James Parker, in 1784. He rebelled against Joshua Reynolds and created his
own style. He was inspired by Shakespeare, Spencer, Milton, Ben Jonson and the Bible. Blake is now
considered a seminal figure in the history of poetry and visual arts of Romantic Age. He was an
important figure of the Romantic Age. Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the
French and American revolutions. He was also influenced by the thinkers such as Emanuel
Swedenborg. One of his most famous works is a book called Songs of innocence and Experience.

About Poem:

Introduction to Songs of Innocence shows the Piper finding inspiration for his poems from an angelic
child's meek requests for a song. The poem in Songs of Innocence tells the tale of a nurse who, we
are to assume, is looking over some children playing in a field. The poem fits in with the theme of
innocence, as it makes no mention of the negative aspects of playing outside; the children are
oblivious of the dangers of playing outside late at night that would be considered in a modern
society. The language uses various images associated with children's playing and imagination. The
nurse is of a jovial and warm-hearted nature, as she allows the children to continue with their
games, with no thought for the wider consequences.

Analysis:

Symbolism and Imagery:

 Green

The green colour is a reference to the envy the nurse feels while the kids are playing she is
recalling her innocent memories. It also represent growth, fertility and spring. It is used to
symbolize everything about the children’s life and freedom.

 The Nurse-

The symbol of nurse is used to represent the caring and nurturing capacity within human
beings.

 Fading light-

The children focuses only on making the most of the daylight. However, the nurse is aware
of the threat that in lurk in darkness and the need to be responsible in terms of the day to
come. That the children desire to play as the light fades could symbolize their developing
maturity and fading innocence.

Themes:

 The perception of children:

Blake saw the natural child as an image of the creative imagination which is the human
being's spiritual core.

 Time:
The children, like the animals, are conscious only of the present. They are unaware of time
and, therefore, of mortality.
  Childhood innocence:
Nature of childhood innocence is explored. Celebration of childhood innocence is cantered
in the poem.

 The nature of parental care and authority:

In the fourth stanza, the theme of the poem can also be grabbed  as “leadership” and
“authority” ; the nurse is a Guardian she stands apart from children but supports them allow
them their freedom rather than dominating them.

Alliteration:
The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Heard. Hill. (Line 2)

And. Arise. (Line 6)

Leave. Let. (Line 7)

Beside. Birds. (Line 11)

And. Are. All. (Line 12)

Little. Leaped. Laughed (Line 15)

Rhyme Scheme:
ABCB.

Poetic device:

Poetic device are a form of literary device used in poetry. A poem is created out of poetic
devices composite of: structural, grammatical, rhythmic, metrical, verbal, and visual elements. They
are essential tools that a poet uses to create rhythm, enhance a poem meaning, or intensify a mood
or feeling.

Poetic device  uses in poem The Nurses songs :

The Nurse’s songs from  songs of Innocence  is a sixteen line poem  consisting  of four lined stanzas
to make sixteen lines in all. This is twice the length  of its counterpart from the  songs of
Experience .The poem uses an ABCB rhyming  scheme  through out the  poem which is simple,
perhaps  its reflect the way in which the nurse’s gentle and wise voice. The first stanza sets the scene
for the rest of the poem. The next three stanzas are of a call and response  structure. This is  seen as
in the second  stanza the nurse calling  to the children. The third stanzas consist of their pleading
response  and finally  the fourth  stanza is the Nurse’s response  to the children’s request. The poem
is also polyphonic  unlike the latter from Songs of Experience. Repetition  of “I” sound  and how it
helps create a light tone whilst also making this poem almost like  a nursery  rhyme The word
children and little repeated in the poem.
Overall Summary

This poem tells the tale of a nurse  who , we assume is looking over some children playing in the
field. Her heart is at rest seeing the children but everything around her is still. The children protest,
to stay a little longer when she calls them to come back , to which she allows them to continue with
their game.

Explanation of the poem:

Stanza 1

When the voices of children are heard on the green,

And laughing is heard on the hill,

My heart is at rest within my breast,

And everything else is still

 
The setting of the poem is natural and rural , evident from the usage of imagery “on the green” “on
the hills” . The nurse is there somewhere in nature and has brought kids to play outside in green. She
is feeling peaceful and her world is at rest. Her heart is at peace seeing the children playing, but
everything around her is still, by this the poet means, the restricted and divided life of adults. It was
common of the romantic poets to sought pleasure in nature  away from adult's stressful life.
Similarly, Wordsworth is writing about nature and children playing .

The first stanza presents the nurse’s thoughts. A group of children playing outside ,on the hills, while
their nurse (carer) listens to them in contentment.

The noun phrase “the green” in the first line of the poem  can be assumed to have been used in 
two connotations. Firstly, it is taken for playground and it is associated to youth, childhood and
freedom. Secondly, it can be taken for “village”   associated with freedom ,the life of villagers are not
ruled by anyone the lands are own their lands. Then it uses imagery in which “laughing is heard on
the hill of the children”. Here the word “hill” represents that joy is on peak.

Then within the first stanza the nurse uses the word first pronoun “My” which we can refer to the
sense of individuality which is one of the characteristics of romantic poetry.

Stanza 2

Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,

And the dews of night arise;

Come, come, leave off play, and let us away

Till the morning appears in the skies.’

These shows a dialogue between her and the children. She tells the kid that sun has gone, now let’s
go home and take rest at night till the next morning.

Stanza 3

No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,

And we cannot go to sleep;

Besides, in the sky, the little birds fly,

And the hills are all cover’d with sheep.’

The children protest , to stay a little longer and continue with their game.

In the second stanza the nurse calls the children quoting  “My children” which  shows her care and
love for them. So, we can say that the nurse is the sign of care in the poem.

Stanza 4

Well, well, go and play till the light fades away,

And then go home to bed

The little ones leaped and shouted and laugh’d,

And all the hills echoed.’

 
The nurse allowed them to play till the dark. All the kids got happy and started leaping and shouting
with joy .

In the last stanza are we notice that nurse quotes “go and play till the night fades away” here fading
of light may be a foreshadowing on the dark days that may come in their life when they grow up.
Some critics say the poet has a hidden meaning behind this. He does not just mean  “ let children
play till it is dark” but that “they may enjoy their youth till they grow up and get restricted by
conventional norms.”

The very theme of poem is hope evident from the use of words shouted, leap, laughed, happy and
sleep. In the fourth stanza, the theme of the poem can also be grabbed  as “leadership” and
“authority” ; the nurse is a Guardian she stands apart from children but supports them allow them
their freedom rather than dominating them.
 

 The poem reflects a pastoral context, demonstrating harmony between nature and human beings
and between young and old. It also returns to the theme of the nature of authority and leadership.
The Nurse’s care does not repress or direct the children but allows them freedom to play.